The Port of Tauranga.
Hamburg-Sud has become the second shipping line to confirm it will introduce a big ship service to Tauranga, taking advantage of the port's increased depth following its extensive dredging programme.
The seasonal weekly service is scheduled to commence on March 7.
The first big ship to visit New Zealand, the 9600 20 foot container equivalent unit (TEU) Aotea Maersk, berthed in Tauranga last October, initiating Maersk Lines' South America-New Zealand-North Asia service.
Full details of the new Hamburg-Sud service are not yet available, but it is understood it will operate the service with slightly smaller 7200 TEU vessels, during the kiwifruit harvest season.
"We are doing a peak season service for 21-22 weeks as a top-up for reefer capacity for the perishable exporters," said Simon Edwards, Hamburg-Sud New Zealand general manager commercial.
The vessel would be routed to Port of Tauranga as part of its South America to North Asia service, with North Asian calls at Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea.
"It's great that in addition to the Maersk big ships we've now got other shipping lines seeing the benefits of the economies of scale," said Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns.
Chairman David Pilkington said the port welcomed the news. The moves by the two major shipping lines had proven conjecture by some in the industry that big ships would never call at Port of Tauranga, was wrong, he said.
That had been based on the fact that vessels with a draft exceeding 12.5m could not transit the strait, he added. But the new services were effectively adding a stopover on established South American/North Asian routes that do not pass through the strait.
"Historically, everybody had just seen New Zealand at the end of the North South linkage," he said.
"All of a sudden, instead of being on the end of North South service, we find ourselves becoming a key link between South America and North Asia."
Mr Pilkington added that the port was also getting Australian cargo coming across the Tasman and connecting with services into North Asia.
"We had not anticipated the arrival of these big ships so soon after we completed the dredging," he said.
"This is what everyone's been talking about for years. We need big ship services, and we need rapid efficient transfer for exporters into those important North Asia markets. These developments are a huge step forwards."
[Sidebar]
The new Hamburg-Sud service was expected to dock on the same day as the existing Maersk service, but the recently announced takeover of Hamburg-Sud may eventually see some re-organisation of schedules, said industry sources.
Danish-owned Maersk Line and Hamburg-Sud controlling shareholder Oetker Group announced last month that they had agreed on a takeover by Maersk. The acquisition is subject to final agreement and regulatory approvals.
German company Hamburg Sud is the world's seventh largest container shipping line and a leader in the North - South trades. The company operates 130 container vessels with a container capacity of 625,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent). Its 2015 turnover was US$6.7 billion, the majority stemming from its container line activities.
With the acquisition, Maersk will increase its global container market share from 15.7 per cent to 18.6 per cent.
Maersk said it would communicate further details following the approval of the sales and purchase agreement, which was expected early in the second quarter of 2017, with the transaction expected to close at the end of this year.
There has been a spate of major recent shipping deals. Maersk - already the world's biggest container line - has an alliance with Mediterranean Shipping Company, the industry's number two operator.
CMA CGM bought Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines, and Hapag-Lloyd bought Dubai-based United Arab Shipping Company last year to become the fifth-biggest container line. Meanwhile, two Chinese groups and three Japanese companies have announced separate plans to merge.
Soren Skou, chief executive of both Maersk Line and Maersk Group, told the Financial Times in December that he expected to see continued consolidation in the container industry in the coming years.
"There's low growth, excess capacity, low freight rates," he said.
Port of Tauranga dredging programme:
* Shipping channels: widened and deepened, to 14.5m inside the harbour entrance and 15.8m outside the harbour.
* Completed: September 2016.
* Cost: Part of a $350 million capital expenditure programme over the past five years.